Vision, Mission & Aims
The Cata Project-Where all the streams come together
The Cata Project is an integrated development project that began in 2003 in the rural village of Cata, a village of 2000 people outside of East London. In 2001, 43% of the households in Cata had no source of income, 2% of inhabitants were employed (44 people), and only 100 people from the village had passed matric. The Cata project is an initiative of the Border Rural Committee (BRC) and is managed by the BRC and the Cata Communal Property Association, a resident association.
This project seeks to address pervasive, debilitating poverty in the region by: improving infrastructure including building a community hall, a primary school classrooms, and roads; a forestry initiative consisting of a wattle and pine plantation; improving agricultural production through an irrigation scheme, and a water channeling and storage scheme; and a tourism initiative consisting of a museum, heritage trail and chalets. The direct beneficiaries are the 300 people who have, to date, secured income through this project.
Innovation
An important way in which the Cata Project differentiates itself from similar projects is its relative speed in obtaining significant results and its highly integrated approach to rural development and land reform.
Effectiveness
In the Cata Project’s four years of operation: employment increased from 4% to 26%; the percentage of households with a monthly income of more than R1, 600 increased from 6% to 31%; the percentage of households with no income at all dropped from 43% to 4%; the percentage of people that have less than a Grade 7 education dropped from almost 50% to 35% ; the percentage of households that now uses electricity for cooking increased from 3% to 51% ; 99% of households eat twice per day or more often and almost half of the families eat more regularly than they did three years ago; and 51% of households have a bank account and in 59% of these cases a woman holds the account (these numbers are much higher than the national average). To date, 300 people have secured income through the Cata Project. The Border Rural Committee has already surpassed its objectives for 2009. The only areas in which it has not yet met its objectives are in water and sanitation. A survey of Cata residents conducted in 2007 revealed that 84% of households say that their economic situation has improved as a result of the project, 89% say that their quality of life has improved, 91% are “happy about most things” or “very positive” about the project, and 85% describe the development process as “sufficiently democratic” or “democratic.” While one of the major strengths of this project is the variety and expertise of the partnerships that underpin it, its weakness may be that conflicts sometimes arise between the considerable number of stakeholders.
Poverty Impact
In the four years that it has been in operation, the Cata Project has succeeded in reducing poverty and improving the quality of life for a significant number of Cata residents. To date, 300 people have secured income through the Cata Project, Cata residents eat more often and are able to further their education as shown through the statistics above. Children and other dependents are the indirect beneficiaries of this project in that many of their parents are better able to feed, clothe and educate them.
Sustainability
The total cost of implementing the Cata Project is approximately R31 million. To date, about R10 million has been spent. The actual expenditure in 2006 was R6, 539, 400. 75% of this project’s funding comes from NGOs including the Africa Groups of Sweden, Misereor, Hivos and the North-South institute. The National Development Agency provides 14% of the funding and the National Lottery Distribution Fund provides 11%. All of this funding is channeled through the Border Rural Committee. The Amathole District Municipality also manages some funds that are used in this project. Funding challenges have been overcome through cooperation between partnerships. The Cata Project’s funding is secure for at least the next 3 years.
Replication
This project could be replicated in other rural areas. Its clear and rapid success makes it a good model for similar initiatives to consider. The population size that could benefit from this type of project is estimated to be between 750 and 3000 people. Potential constraints include a lack of funding and poor institutional capacity at the municipal level.
Partnerships
- National Development Agency (funding)
- Africa Groups of Sweden, Misereor, Hivos (funding)
- North-South Institute (funding)
- National Lottery Distribution Fund (funding)
- Amathole District Municipality (funding)
- Cata Communal Property Association (co-management)
